Pieces (3) for chorus, Nos 1-3, complete

Inventive, humorous and enjoyable pieces by this formerly East German composer. The first of the set is "Zeitansage (Time Announcement, or Time Check), " in which the voices are made into one complex clockwork of pulses and rolling arpeggios, eventually constructing a beautiful chord with internal motion. In the first section various words associated with human activity in various time formats form the text: "gestern, heute, es mach' einmal, jetzt, vom Heute bis am Morgen, Es ist, zum Zeit, zu früh, zu spät (yesterday, today, that makes once, now, from today until tomorrow, it is, on time, too early, too late). In the middle section a complex counterpoint of words emerges: Ein Wendung, gleichen der Musik (A turn, a change -- also a pun on Einwendung equals objection -- just like music), followed by "gegen die, ohne die, für die, trotz der (against the, without the, for the, in spite of the)" and then the first section returns. The second piece is "Kreuzworträtsel (Crossword Puzzle)" in which word fragments and phonemes gradually form sustained words. The third piece "Anfeuerung (Incitement)" has for its text short commands and nonsense sounds (Prima! Weiter! Forward Mush!) normally intended to get someone or something moving. It ends in a chaos of commands, followed by a very brief and quiet glissando upwards.